Courage to Stand
by Kretari - daughter of Hermes
Summary: Harry finds himself in the past for his sixth year after an explosion of time turners during the battle at the ministry, only delayed by the fact that his magic was focused on one thing - surviving the battle. How will he deal with being around his parents when they're his age? And what about how he'll react to Sirius? Time-travel
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So, yeah, I get that I need to update Musical Stories. And I will once my inspiration for it comes back. However, I've managed to get some inspiration for a Harry Potter fic. I've never wrote one to post before, so I hope it's okay. **

**My inspiration for this fic came from Ministry of Magic's song This Town. The lyric piece that got my attention was: **_**"Everyone will know that we're still fighting, not in shallow graves or fearfully hiding."**_

**As such, I thought I would attempt a story. It's not in seventh year. But it's got a few aspects that could be tied into the lyric piece loosely. It's actually one of those time travel fics that I've found myself obsessed with recently. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything your recognise from J.K. Rowling or elsewhere. **

Harry definitely wasn't feeling too up to par right now. In fact, now that he'd seen what time period he'd landed himself in by being too close to an explosion of a box of time turners at the Ministry, he felt downright sick. He wasn't sure he could handle seeing his parents and their friends when they were going to be the same age as him. A sixth year. He was glad that they'd changed his appearance. Not many questions would be brought up then. Instead of his normal messy black hair and emerald eyes, he had managable dark brown hair and moonstone blue eyes.

He knew that Hermione was going to have his head later, no matter what he did to protect the future he'd come from.. But he couldn't exactly help that, could he? It's not like he wished for this! He shook himself from these thoughts as the Headmaster approached him. It would be soon that he'd have to go to Platform 9 3/4 to ride to school like a normal transfer student, as his made up story said. Harry had already been sorted. A Gryffindor again. Unsurprising to Harry.

It was only when Harry got on the train at Platform 9 3/4 that he finally got to thinking. He had gotten there early and took a seat in the first empty compartment he found, staring out the window at nothing, lost in his thoughts. His mind flashed back to the battle at the Ministry. To Sirius's death. To Remus's comforting words. To Snape finally realizing that Harry wasn't the Golden Boy he'd thought after all. People can change, Harry realized. It may take a lot, but they can change.

He was startled out of his thoughts by a knock on the compartment's doorframe. He looked over, his eyes guarded. Four people stood by the door and he examined them curiously before he gave them a shy half smile.

The sandy haired boy spoke. "Mind if we sit with you?"

Harry gave a faint smile and motioned for them to have a seat before going back to staring out of the window.

The four took seats in the compartment, continuing what sounded like an old conversation.  
The same one who'd spoken before was examining Harry. "You must be the new exchange student Dumbledore mentioned,"he said. "I'm Remus Lupin."

Harry looked at him for a moment before he half smiled again and nodded. "Harry Evanson."he responded quietly, voice sounding slightly hesitant. The same way it had sounded when he spoke at the Dursely's home.

The other three introduced themselves as well. When Harry didn't speak again though the questions being fired at him and only offered a faintly amused smile before going back to staring out the window, Sirius spoke. "Blimey, he's just as shy as you were in your first year, Moony!"he commented.

Remus gave Sirius an unamused look, but didn't stop him from speaking to Harry again. "Say, did you get sorted over the summer holidays?"

Harry looked back at Sirius, his eyes still holding a haunted look in them that disturbed the Marauders. "Yeah. Gryffindor,"he answered softly.

Sirius grinned, but let him be after that.

Harry stayed out of the conversation. He listened, but said nothing.

When they got to Hogwarts and into the Great Hall, Harry nodded in greating to Professor Dumbledore, who was giving him a curious look as he took a seat beside Remus at Gryffindor table.

A few other people introduced themselves to him, but most of them left him alone. He was content with that, actually.

When Snape entered and moved past the Marauders to get to a seat at Slytherin table, which was stationed beside Gryffindor table, Sirius and James threw out their normal insults. Harry flinched at them, and Snape only cast the two a withering glare for them, but Sirius had managed to trip him up when he wasn't paying any attention.

Harry, who'd seen this happen, glared coldly at Sirius, getting up and helping Snape to his feet carefully. As soon as Snape was back on his feet, Harry whirled around to glare at Sirius. "That was uncalled for,"he snapped, his voice losing any shyness that had been there previously. "He's done nothing to you,"

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Sure. It's more because he's around,"he said. "Why do you care? Snivelly's just another Slytherin death eater wanna be."

Harry crossed his arms and gave Sirius a look. "Really?"he asked, voice icy.

Snape looked a bit uncomfortable, having someone he didn't know stand up for him.

"Well you know what, that still makes him better than you. Because you're being a bully."Harry snapped.

James stepped in. "He's not."he said. "Not our fault that Snivelly took to patronizing us in first year and continued throughout."

Harry turned his unamused glare onto James. "People can change."he said.

He didn't say another word to the two of them, instead turning to Snape, his gaze softening into one of concern. "You're okay, right?"he asked, looking the Slytherin over for injuries.

Snape rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, fine."he said, seeming a but more uncomfortable.

Harry nodded and let him go to his seat at the Slytherin table before he took his seat again. Remus looked at Harry, as if seeing him in a new light. "It takes guts to do something like that, you know, seeing as you don't know any of us,"

A moment's pause before Harry met his eyes. "I just don't like bullies."he answered. "Had enough experience with them before. It was the least I could do."

Remus half smiled at that and nodded.

Sirius and James were looking at Harry curiously, almost as if he were some sort of unknown creature they were trying to figure out.

After a while, Harry sighed and spoke. "You two reminded me of my cousin,"he told them. "And that's not a good thing. Which is why I snapped at you like I did. Give him a chance, okay? I mean it when I say that people can change. You just have to stop to get to know them to figure out if they have."

Throughout the feast, random conversations were cropped up. Once the five boys were in their dorm room, however, things settled down a bit. Harry was the last one asleep. He stayed up an hour after the others had gone to bed, just thinking, trying to sort things out in his mind. He just hoped he hadn't shifted things too greatly that evening by doing what he'd done. Still, he was proud that he'd done something that could really help someone else.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: ..wow, this story apparently doesn't suck.. That's a relief. I'll be continuing it, until I absolutely can't continue it anymore. Don't know how long that'll be. At any rate, I'm glad that there's people who like this story. It's nice to know, really. I'll try not to make it too cliched, but I make no promises right now. I don't know where my writing will go after this.**

The following morning, Harry woke up to the sound of Remus digging through his trunk quietly. He'd always been able to pick out the smallest sounds in the dorm room. It had really helped him before. He blinked, sitting up and grabbing his glasses from his bedside table before he looked at Remus warily. "Good morning,"he mumbled, keeping his voice quiet.

Remus looked up at Harry and gave him a faint smile. "Morning. You may want to get ready before I have to wake the others up or you'll never get done,"he said softly.

Harry nodded, getting up and digging through his own trunk to get a new school uniform out.

Remus watched this before he shook his head and closed his trunk, getting up in silence.

Once Harry came back out of the bathroom, dressed and his hair almost sopping wet, he moved to make his bed in silence, a habit he'd gotten into.

Remus half smiled at this and moved to wake the others up. Peter got up without a problem and started getting ready. James and Sirius, however, remained asleep.

At Remus's frustrated growl, Harry looked over with a raised eyebrow to see the problem. "Hey, Remus, back up for a second,"he said softly, a mischievious grin showing.

Remus noticed this and backed away.

Within the next moment, Harry had managed to blast both sleeping boys with cold water, effectively waking them up.

"What the hell?"Sirius demanded as he shot up.

Harry grinned. "Good morning, sunshine."he said cheerfully. "Time to get up and get ready for class, or you'll miss breakfast,"

That got the two boys up and moving.

Harry nodded to Remus and grabbed his bag, getting his things for class put in it before he headed out and down for breakfast in silence.

By the time the Marauders got down to breakfast, Harry had finished his breakfast and had his nose buried in his Defense text book, trying to see if it was going to be like his fifth year or not.

Sirius and James exchanged looks as they took their seats. Remus peered over Harry's shoulder curiously as he sat down beside him.

Harry glanced up and gave them a faint smile before returning to his study of the book.

After he reached the end of the book, he shook his head in bemusement. "I hope that the Defense professor doesn't go by the book. Otherwise, it's going to be a very boring and useless year in that class,"he commented, putting the book away.

Remus seemed amused by that, but he said nothing to deny it. "Well, then, keep your fingers crossed, maybe you'll luck up."

But then he frowned. He'd caught sight of the scarring on the back of Harry's hand. "What's this?"he asked, taking the smaller boy's wrist and moving it to where he could read what the scars said.

Harry had froze up. He knew he should've cast a glamour charm over that. "Um.."he said softly. "I..it's just..it came from always getting into trouble before, at my old school. They didn't take kindly to the truth,"

Remus seemed surprised but he let it go and released Harry's wrist silently, going back to his breakfast.

Harry looked down at his hand for a moment before he sighed and got his wand out. He was going to avoid questions like that from now on if he could help it. He silently cast a glamour charm over the scars on his hand, effectively hiding them from sight before he put his wand away again.

However, someone had seen him do that and spoke. "Silent magic?"

Harry jumped slightly and looked up to see a red head watching him. "..yeah.."he said, but his tone showed his hesitance.

"Oh, right. Sorry. I'm Lily Evans."she said.

Harry nodded once, but didn't relax again.

A short silence passed before Lily spoke again. "So, do I want to know what you went off on Potter and Black for yesterday? I walked in in the middle of it, so I didn't catch what had happened."

Harry sighed. "They just reminded me of my cousin, is all."he answered, seeming very uncomfortable with this.

Lily nodded and let it go, letting Harry go back to his own business. When Harry moved his empty plate and goblet out of the way and got out a piece of parchment and a quill and ink well and started writing something down, Remus looked at him in confusion. "What are you -?"

Harry cut him off. "If the Defense teacher teaches by the book, we'll never learn anything in class. I'm planning, let me be."he snapped out, focused solely on the parchment in front of him.

Remus raised an eyebrow, but nodded and let Harry be long enough for him to finish up.

After that, Remus looked at the paper and half smiled. "An outside club?"he asked. "Isn't that against the rules?"

"Maybe,"Harry answered, a grin showing up as he looked up at Remus. "But it's better than not learning anything this year, right?"

Remus nodded. "Can I see that?"he asked, nodding to the parchment.

James, Sirius and Peter were watching silently as Remus picked the parchment up and read through it silently.

Silence reigned from the five boys until Remus spoke. "Wait, hold up. What?"he asked.

Harry chuckled at this. Remus's bewildered tone was amusing to him. "The Ministry fears nothing more than the thought that Dumbledore is creating his own army to overthrow them. They don't even fear Voldemort that much, which is why they'd be so easy to infiltrate to the Death Eaters."he said quietly. "I did something similar at my old school because our Defense teacher sucked horribly, didn't let us practice defensive spells or anything, so we made our own way and managed pretty well with no teacher's help. It covered a wide range, and it was open to anyone willing to learn. The point behind it is we can get extra help from people we know we can trust without it seeming like we're weak if we learn at a different pace and still learn and practice and have fun with it."

Remus nodded once. "So..I take it you taught these kids? Were they all younger than you or something?"

Harry chuckled. "No. There were a lot of students older than myself who were there. We were all there to learn to defend ourselves and I had help from some others in learning to defend myself, no matter what happened."he answered. "If the teacher this year is bad, then I'm doing the same here and nobody's going to say a word about it, at least, no teacher. I know for a fact that they'll find out eventually, but I'm pretty sure that nobody's going to interfer with it,"

James spoke. "And if they do try to interfer with it and get it shut down?"

"Peeves helps those he respects. Plus I have a few tricks up my sleeves."Harry answered. "I'll tell you guys about them back in the dorm this evening."

Silence fell again then.

After the boys got their schedules and finished their food, they headed to their classes - Transfiguration first for the Marauders.

Harry smiled kindly at Severus when the Slytherin entered from his seat beside Remus.

Severus nodded to him and took a seat at an empty desk towards the back of the room in silence.

The lesson was simple for Harry - it was one that he'd studied over far too many times to be much of a challenge when he was here during the summer after his time travel incident. He said nothing about it though, it was something to keep his mind busy, so he didn't complain. But when he finished early on and had nothing else to occupy his mind, his thoughts went back to his friends and the fact that, even here in this time, he was still on the boarderline of a war that he'd been born into. He hated it. He didn't like sitting by and hearing about people dying when he could help. He wanted to be out there helping people. But he said nothing about it, not wanting to give himself away like he would manage to do if he said something about it to someone. He'd stick to training others to get them ready.

When Harry shifted his position, Remus looked up at him with a silent question in his eyes: are you okay?

Harry caught it and nodded once. But the way he kept messing with the sleeves of his robes worriedly let Remus know that he was on edge. He half smiled and rolled his eyes. "Work on your planning. You have to have a bit of a lesson plan for the first one,"he murmured to Harry, who gave him a thankful smile and did just that, charming the paper to look like notes he was taking on the assignment he'd just finished in class if McGonagall were to look at it.

Harry was content then. He had something to focus on. But one of his memories hit him still and his grip tightened on his quill, his other hand curling into a fist as the memory hit him.

Remus seemed to notice, but he let Harry be so he could finish what he had been doing. After he'd finished and others started talking quietly as well, Remus turned to Harry and spoke. "Are you quite sure you're okay?"he asked. "Because you seem to be having a few issues."

Harry shrugged once and let his quill fall to rest on the parchment in frustration. His mind was once again on the memories.

McGonagall seemed to notice the shift in Harry's behaviour because she gave Remus, James and Sirius a look that said to get him under control again before he disturbed those who were still working.

James and Sirius turned their chairs so they were facing Harry and Remus. "Something going on?"James asked.

Remus gave a look. "Brilliant deductive skills there, Prongs."he said sarcastically. He looked back at Harry and prodded his side. "Are you alright?"

Harry's reaction wasn't what Remus had expected. Instead of ignoring him, Harry tensed up worse and looked at Remus with broken eyes that cut the werewolf to the core. "I've changed my mind."he said quietly, keeping McGonagall from hearing. "I don't care how good the Defense professor is this year, I'm starting this club up. Because people need to know how to fight no matter what and a professor can't cover everything because of the Ministry's rules and Dumbledore's rules."

"Oh, well that sounds lovely,"Sirius commented. "What do you plan on doing?"

Harry paused, looking at the paper. He'd wrote down a few spells before his memories hit him. One of them had been one of Snape's. "I'm enlisting some help from people who actually know about the Dark Arts by some means. Sorry, Sirius, James. You'll be dealing with Snape, because he knows enough to really help us."he said before he got up and moved to sit next to Severus, who was finished as well and had his attention focused on his potions book, a quill in hand.

Severus looked up, looking surprised that someone had interupted his studying.

Harry spoke swiftly, keeping his voice low so McGonagall wouldn't hear. "I'm going to need your help with something,"he said.

Snape closed his book and put it on the table. "And your name is...?"he asked, seeming a bit hesitant to agree to anything.

"Harry Evanson."

Severus nodded. "And what could you possibly need my help with?"he asked.

Harry grinned at that."I'm starting this outside club for Defense. But I need help from someone who has a bit more of an understanding on Dark Magic. Please? People need to know how to fight, no matter what side they fall to after school."

Severus tilted his head down and noded. "Okay. When's the first meeting and where?"he asked, his tone slightly bitter.

"I don't know yet. The place is the Room of Requirement on the Seventh floor, I'll send you a message when I figure out when the first meeting is. Thank you,"Harry said before going back to his seat and grinning happily.

Remus raised an eyebrow at this but let it go. "So what exactly are you planning on teaching?"he asked.

harry smiled. "Something I should've learned long ago. How to fight, and fight well."

The three Marauders exchanged a look, but said nothing about it.

Suddenly, something lit up in Harry's bag. Harry jumped slightly and pulled out a folded up piece of parchment that was glowing slightly. He opened it and looked at it for a moment before he noticed the message. "It still works! I worried that it wouldn't work with the distance,"he mumbled, reading the message carefully.

**Harry, you best not get into trouble wherever you disappeared off to! Because if you do get into trouble there, so help me, when you get back you will be in so much trouble! Please stay safe and don't get yourself killed somehow while you're away. I believe I'll see you in a week or two, actually. And if you're hurt when I get there, you're going to catch hell for it. I have a tracing charm on you right now, so don't remove it or do something stupid, okay?**

Harry glowered at the last bit. "Oh, yeah, he's dead when I see him again,"he grumbled.

Remus had read over Harry's shoulder and chuckled, explaining to Sirius and James while Harry replied.

The rest of the day passed quickly, but it was mostly spent with planning things and keeping occupied for Harry. It wasn't that bad, though.

**AN: Gods, I have no idea how that ended up happening. I really need to control my ideas..really. **

**But anyways, another future person's going to be joining them soon. Who do you think it should be? I'll write in anyone but Hermione or Ron, as I can't stand writing those two a lot. **

**Hope you liked the chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hiya! So, I spent time mulling over who I was going to put in this chapter all day. It was only five minutes ago I decided. All because of this quote I saw on a picture online - "Experience is the hardest teacher because the test comes first and the lesson comes after." After that, it only took me a moment to figure out what I was going to try to do with this. Try being the key word. My writing starts out controlled at the beginning of a chapter and takes a mind of it's own towards the middle and end, as you clearly saw in the last chapter. Anyway, I've ranted enough. I will say that this chapter is currently being wrote while I am slightly emotional over a few video links someone sent me. Luke and Noah from As The World Turns happens to be one of my OTPs and someone sent me a few video links. The one that's stuck with me is one that had This I Swear by Nick Lachey playing. That is currently playing on loop now. I apologize for anything ahead of time. It is not entirely my fault. **

**Hope you like the chapter!**

Harry fell into a familiar routine over the next few days. Get up, get ready for the day, help Remus get the others up, go to breakfast and classes. Things were surprisingly calm. Of course, that could be because he hadn't done anything other than go to class for the past week.

When he finally started getting closer to working things out for the club, he got disturbed by James or Sirius. He always gave them unamused looks and went back to what he was doing. It never lasted long enough for him to get anywhere. He was always the last one asleep in the Marauders' dorm. He stayed up to work on plans most night, other nights because he couldn't fall to sleep.

So one morning two weeks after the message he'd gotten, he had been trying to work on plans and had fallen asleep at the table. It was that day that the person who'd messaged him decided to show up. He walked in, talking with the Headmaster kindly, wearing Gryffindor robes. The Headmaster nodded and headed to his seat.

The male moved over to where Harry was seated and raised an eyebrow, looking at the Marauders. "How long has he been asleep?"he asked.

Remus shook his head. "For the past five minutes,"he answered.

A sigh before the male moved and shook Harry's shoulder gently.

Harry woke up, though, and pulled himself up straight. "Yeah, yeah, I'm up."he mumbled.  
"Merlin, Harry, have you gotten any sleep in the past two weeks?"

Harry turned so quick Remus was sure he'd given himself a whiplash. "Neville!"he said, giving him a hug.

Neville laughed. "Good to see you too."he said, sitting down in the empty seat beside Harry and glancing at the parchment. "Homework?"he asked.

Harry shook his head. "Plans."he corrected.

Neville moved to read over Harry's shoulder before he smiled faintly. "You're starting that up here?"he asked kindly.

Harry shrugged. "If I ever get past planning it, yeah."

"Why wouldn't you get past planning it?"

Remus laughed. "James and Sirius won't let him work on plans around them. He generally stays up working on them at night, which is why he's so tired."

When Harry started drifting again, Neville rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay, you aren't going to classes today,"he said.

Harry blinked at him. "Yes, I am."

"Your falling asleep at the breakfast table, Harry. You're not going to class. You are going back to the dorm and getting some sleep before you get so tired you get sick. Again."Neville said firmly, knowing how stubborn Harry could be.

Harry groaned. "Why can't you be the shy, easily persuaded kid you were when we were eleven?"he asked.

Neville rolled his eyes and got up, pulling Harry up with him.

Remus chuckled and told Neville the password to Gryffindor tower before they left.

That evening at dinner, Harry joined them, not nearly as tired as he had been before. He still didn't seem fully rested, though.

Harry partook in the conversation around him, just to give him something to focus on. It was better than nothing. At least, it was in his opinion.

**AN: Yeah, yeah, I know it's short. But it's almost five in the morning where I'm at and I'm dead beat. I'll try to make it up with a longer update later, but right now..sleep. That sounds wonderful. Goodnight, everyone.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Right, I'm back after going back and forth with many ideas thanks to my restarting on watching Luke and Noah's story from As The World Turns. Those boys always manage to give me inspiration for things when I lose my inspiration for things. Which is really often as of late. Somehow, I'm not surprised by that. I hope you like the chapter. I've gotten some good feedback on this, so I'm glad it doesn't totally suck. I guess it's just that a writer's always harder on their work than others are.. Ugh..great.**

**Anyway, without further ado, here is the fourth chapter of Courage to Stand. Hope you enjoy it!**

The next couple of days were full of things getting into a new routine. Neville and Harry spoke a lot about how things were doing in the future, their words carefully coded.

That was the case now as they sat with the Marauders at the Gryffindor table at breakfast.

"So, everyone's okay?"Harry asked. "I didn't get the chance to ensure that everyone was okay.."

Neville smiled faintly. "You worry too much, Harry. Everyone's fine. Most of them are worried about how you're doing. I mean you were the one who caught the most of the attack, not us. You were the one they were after, we just fought to keep you safe,"

Harry shook his head. "I wish you hadn't. I don't like you guys getting yourselves into danger because of me."he said softly. "I don't like watching my friends get hurt if I could've stopped it."

Remus raised an eyebrow at the two. "There was an attack?"he asked them.

Harry and Neville exchanged looks before Harry heaved a sigh. "Yeah.."he mumbled. "Yeah, there was."

Neville seemed to notice Harry's mood fall because he butted in. "Harry, don't start blaming yourself."he said softly. "You promised you wouldn't. Besides, that's in the past and now you can make sure it doesn't happen again,"

Harry gave a slight smile at the thought and nodded, but didn't add anything.

James raised an eyebrow. "Everything okay?"he asked, a bit hesitant after seeing Harry's expression.

Harry sighed and got up, grabbing his bag and heading out.

Neville went to call him back, but thought better of it and let him go.

Lily watched Harry leave before she looked at Neville. "Is he okay?"

Neville frowned slightly. "I don't know."he said quietly. "James, do you have..?"he trailed.

James's gaze was already on the map. "He's going to the lake,"he answered.

Neville nodded. He'd have time before he really had to start worrying. "He should be fine, then. Being around water always helps him calm down."he said quietly.

Sirius spoke up. "What happened to cause his mood to drop like that?"he asked.

"Harry lost his godfather during the attack."Neville said with a sigh. "He's been blaming himself since. No matter who tells him it wasn't his fault."

After a short moment of silence, Neville got up and went after Harry, knowing he'd had some time to calm down now so he wasn't likely to get jinxed first thing.

After he left, Remus shook his head. "Well, you have to hand it to them, they've got a lot of courage to go through an attack and still be willing to teach people to fight in battle."

James nodded. "And considering how untrusting Harry is of people..it's amazing that he's even bothering to try to teach people he doesn't know."he commented. "It's nice, though. They care a lot about others. You can see that with how they act."

When Neville and Harry entered Defense a few minutes late, talking quietly about plans, everyone turned to look at them. Harry, too used to this, only rolled his eyes and pulled Neville to a seat near the Marauders, Lily and Severus, right in the middle of them so they could talk later. Neville had fallen silent the moment that everyone turned to look at them. He still wasn't used to that.

It didn't take long for them to get the assignment. They worked slowly on it, trying to give the others time.

Even so, they finished before the others did.

Harry noticed and frowned, but said nothing.

However, within the next few moments, people began talking randomly and James and Sirius turned to where they were facing Neville and Harry.

Remus gave them a look, but said nothing. Sirius spoke softly. "So, everything fixed up so we can get started?"he asked quietly.

"How'd you...?"Harry asked. "We haven't even.."

James gave a faint smile. "We have ways of knowing things. So, when's the first meeting,"he asked, keeping his voice just low enough that the professor wouldn't hear.

Harry smiled and spoke. "Friday, directly after lessons."

Severus and Lily had both looked up and to the others by then.  
Lily frowned. "But wouldn't that put us out after curfew?"she asked.

Neville looked back at her. "We won't get caught."he said softly. "Peeves has promised Harry to help everyone get back to their dorms without getting caught, and when he does something like that, he means it."

Lily still looked a bit worried, but nodded.

Once they had all completely finished, their work, though, their full attention was on the conversation. Harry spoke softly. "Right, so invite your friends, but only the ones who won't rat us out. The last time.."

"I believe that she learned what she did wrong, Harry. Besides, it wasn't entirely her fault, they gave her Veritaserum, after all."Neville said. "We're going to make sure that doesn't happen again."

Harry shrugged. "Better safe than sorry,"he replied.

Remus frowned. "Someone ratted you out last time?"he asked.

Harry gave an almost sly smile. "I believe half of the people in the club/class last time is now immune to Veritaserum, they used it on us so often trying to get the truth out of us. Some of the purebloods who were used to it and knew how to fight the effects of it off taught the rest of us, but one of the girls told."he said. "But it won't happen like that again if I can help it."

Even Neville looked worried about that. "Okay, that sounds a bit dangerous on your part Harry. How about we stick to something simple until we actually figure out who's going to be there. Then we can figure something out that nobody can break,"

Harry nodded. "Planning on it. I'm just saying..nobody's going to have to build up an immunity to veritaserum this time."he said. "I don't like the idea of having to teach them to fight against it. It was worse than Occlumency lessons, and those sucked terribly,"

Neville laughed faintly. "Says the boy who came in after every occlumency lesson yelling at us. I never would've guessed that it was bad from the way you yelled."

"Oh, shut up."Harry said, shoving Neville lightly, not enough for the boy to leave his seat, just enough for him to shift a bit.

Neville grinned, knowing that he'd managed to finally break past the wall that Harry had had up for so long on that within that moment. He could be content with that for now, at least it was progress.

**AN: And done. Hopefully it doesn't suck. I actually didn't plan for it to end the way it did, but yeah, my writing takes on a mind of it's own after a while. **

**By the way, I feel it safe to warn you that I wrote half of this while listening to various scenes from Luke and Noah's story from ATWT and the other half was wrote after watching the first episode of the United States of Tara. So..sorry about how it turned out. What I'm listening to or watching really influences my writing.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Gods, it's been forever since I've updated this one. I am so sorry, guys. **

**Here's the thing..since my last update on this, I've gotten into Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Merlin. The things that got me back around to this? Someone who's read another of my stories asked me to pick back up on this earlier..and after watching Merlin for a while, I found that I had a new sort of appreciation for magic. What better way to show that than to get back around to the fandom that got me started - Harry Potter. **

**Again, I apologize for the long wait on this chapter. I hope it won't happen again, however, I do not make any promises.**

**Enjoy!**

Remus smiled as he watched Harry and Neville work together on planning things out so they were _perfect_.

"So..you're going to do that one again?"Neville asked at one point, pointing to something in a defense book the two had between them at the table they were currently sitting at in the back corner of the library, concealed by the stacks of books around them.

Harry paused what he was jotting down to glance at it and gave a faint smile. "Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's one of the more simple ones, remember? We're going to have to try to teach a wide variety of spells, and that can be used to just about anything."

Neville nodded and stole Harry's quill from him to write something down a bit down the page, giving the raven haired male a knowing smile. "You'll have to remember that these guys aren't soldiers like you are, Harry."he said softly. "Take it easy on them for a while."

Remus knocked on the shelf that was right in front of their table. "Anything I can help with while the others are off causing trouble?"

Harry smiled up at him and motioned for the werewolf to take a seat in front of them.

Remus did so and looked at the books. "Some of these are really advanced. How did you get them? Most of these are hid away, it takes a teacher's note to get them."

"It's not that hard to get ahold of one of those papers,"Harry pointed out. "I've done my fair share of getting into trouble, I know my way around the rules well enough to do this,"

Neville rolled his eyes. "Yes, well, unless you want a detention, you'll keep your voice down,"he commented.

Harry chuckled. "What, worried that I'm going to tarnish your perfect behaviour record, Nev?"he teased. "Someone's on the side of the angels, I see."

Remus shook his head in amusement and pulled one of the books out, flipping through it slowly, skimming the information provided.

Neville and Harry bickered a bit, but soon let it go. Things calmed again, the three working together in silence, sometimes offering up a piece of information that either Harry or Neville would jot down depending on who was able to do so without a book getting in their way.

After a while, Neville paused, glancing at Harry for a moment. "Have you ever considered looking into becoming an animagus, Harry?"he asked.

Harry blinked up at him and shrugged. "Not really."he responded. "Why?"

Neville frowned. "Because...it's just, it's something I got to thinking about a while back, and I spoke to our last good defense teacher about it..and well, with the upcoming war, any advantage or surprise you can pull would be a good thing to have,"

"And you're certain I'm the soldier out of the two of us?"Harry asked, giving him an odd look. "I might look into it, after we can get started on training, but I'm not having people risking their lives to try it. Don't mention it to anyone else, okay?"

Remus gave a faint smile and continued with what he was reading.

When James, Sirius and Peter managed to make it to the library soon after that, James seemed a bit disturbed by the length of the information on the paper in the middle of the table. "What have you guys been doing, planning for a war?"

"There's a war coming up,"Harry pointed out dryly, not taking his eyes off what he was reading. "So, yes, I'm planning on training you guys so you can survive it."

When he noticed James was hesitant to come near the table, eyeing the amount of books that were piled there, Harry laughed softly. "The books aren't going to eat you, James. Rem's been here for a while and he's still breathing."

Sirius snorted. "Barely."he remarked. "Time for dinner, anyways."

Harry sighed and gathered what he could in his bag.

When Neville noticed Harry struggling to lift his bag with so many books in it, he took some of the books out and put them in his own. "Soldier or not, you're not going to break your back carrying these on your own. Now I see why 'Mione had an issue with you the few times she got you to study. You nearly kill yourself each time you do."

"I just don't want this to backfire this time."Harry pointed out. "It nearly got us killed last time."

Neville frowned. "And there were...what, six of us fighting, including you? All students."he countered. "It'll be fine."

On the walk down to the Great Hall, Neville had to half guide Harry because the teen had gotten one of the smaller, lighter books out and was flipping through it in search.

James spoke softly. "So, when you say he's like a soldier..."he started, looking at Neville, who gave him a faint smile.

"He's always been a fighter. He'll stand up for what he believes in to the death. He is a soldier. Has been from a young age from what I know from some of his other friends. It's..not my story, I won't tell it."

James nodded and the topic was dropped. Instead, it went to classes. Harry offered soft input every so often, but most of his focus was on his book.

Dinner was a rather calm affair, even though it took Neville snatching the book and putting it away to get Harry to stop reading, and then a cuff around the head for him to actually start eating.

Neville shook his head. "You're going to collapse one day from lack of food,"he remarked.

As days passed, the two worked harder. They even beat Remus and Lily in getting their homework finished, only to bury themselves in work for the group. But Remus could tell the boys were happy to do this. It was a distraction, one that they had been needing.

Between that and the cold that was beginning to set in, things seemed to be going rather well.

This particular day was shady, a brisk autumn breeze blowing, and the Marauders found Neville and Harry laying out by the lake, not bothering with the books they had stacked around them again.

"Taking a break, I see."Remus remarked. "Good. You're working too hard,"  
Harry gave a soft, breezy laugh. "No such thing."he countered, eyes closed lazily.

Neville rolled his eyes, smiling down at the boy from where he was sitting with his back to a tree.

The Marauders sat down with them, careful not to disturb the books and papers there.

Sirius smiled. "Enjoying yourselves?"

Neville grinned. "Just wait until you see Harry at Christmas after the snow starts. You'd think he's never played before the way he reacts to it."  
Harry gave a quiet huff of laughter, but it sounded quite forced. "Before I started school..I'd never really been able to play in the snow before. It was a nice change. Besides, the end of the winter, when the snow melts away..it signals new life, new beginnings. And..it's something everyone needs sometimes."

Remus gave him a soft smile. "Now where'd you learn that?"

"An old friend,"Harry said quietly, eyes opening to stare at the leaves drifting above them in the wind. "But it's true. This is the time of year that everything dies, so when Spring comes about, it has to represent beginnings in a way."

"Fair enough."

After a while, Neville grabbed a handful of leaves from under the tree and moved to dump them on Harry, covering the boy's hair and casual jacket with the colourful debris.

Harry didn't move for a second before he sighed and brushed the leaves from his jacket, glancing up at Neville with a mischievious grin. "You better run,"he warned, pulling himself up off the ground and making a way out of the maze of books.

Neville shot up and took off the minute Harry stood. He knew this was coming. Which was why he did it, to get his friend acting like a kid again.

When the two collapsed with the Marauders again, they were laughing and had twigs and leaves tangled in their hair and clothing. But they were laughing and joking, so none of the Marauders interupted.

**So yeah..I got about halfway through this chapter before I skimmed back through it and thought 'what the hell am I writing?'. Then I laughed and walked away for a bit. **

**Also! Pairings! I've yet to ask about that. No matter what, I am not doing a Harry/Ginny pairing. I don't like it very much. Anything else, I'm open to. I just cannot write Ginny well enough to do that pairing, besides..it seems a bit too..obvious..overdone..you know?**


End file.
